CVE-2026-92492 cpufreq/amd-pstate: handle missing policy in dynamic EPP callbacks
A race condition in the Linux kernel's AMD P-State driver can cause a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a system crash.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-92492?
CVE-2026-92492 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cpufreq/amd-pstate: handle missing policy in dynamic EPP callbacks
cpufreq_cpu_get() returns NULL when no cpufreq policy is associated with the requested CPU, for example because the CPU is offline or the policy has already been torn down. Both amd_pstate_power_supply_notifier() and amd_pstate_profile_set() acquire a policy via cpufreq_cpu_get() and then pass that pointer to amd_pstate_get_balanced_epp() and amd_pstate_set_epp(), which dereference it unconditionally. A racing CPU hotplug or driver teardown can therefore lead to a NULL pointer dereference on either of these dynamic EPP paths.
The third cpufreq_cpu_get() caller in this file, amd_pstate_verify(), already handles the NULL case. Bring the two new callers in line with that pattern: return NOTIFY_OK from the power-supply notifier (matching the other "nothing to do" exits) and -ENODEV from amd_pstate_profile_set() (the usual cpufreq error for a missing CPU policy).
Found by code inspection; not tested on hardware.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-92492?
How do I fix CVE-2026-92492?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-92492 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-92492 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-92492, GHSA-2x57-5mr8-cjxj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-92492.